«No.»

The curt refusal startled Willow.

«Stay with your baby,» Jessica said tightly. «I’ll check on the mares.»

«I can’t let you do that. The cold is too dangerous.»

«That’s why you’re staying with Ethan. If anything happens to you, the baby will die. If anything happens to me…» Jessica paused and then spoke the bitter truth with no bitterness in her voice. «No one else will die of it.»

Willow clasped her hands together until the knuckles gleamed whitely. «Jessi, you mustn’t go out. You don’t know what this mountain wind is like, how quickly it can take the living warmth from you.»

«I know about cold and wind. I’ve seen sheep freeze standing up in the fields and wells frozen from top to bottom like stone.»

Willow’s eyes widened into startled hazel pools. «I didn’t know England was so cold.»

«It isn’t. Scotland is. Do you have winter clothing that would fit me?»

«Jessi —»

«Do you or not?»

«In the bedroom. I’ll show you.» Willow smiled oddly. «Some of the clothes will be familiar. Caleb got them from Wolfe. They were yours. There’s a shotgun over the front door. Take it. I’ll bring you extra shells.»

Very quickly, Jessica was on the way out of the house, wrapped in layers of wool and buckskin that were familiar, and a hooded fur jacket that was not. She wore pants instead of a skirt and carried a borrowed shotgun. The pockets of her jacket were heavy with extra shells.

The only horse in the corral that didn’t look half dead on its feet from work was a tall black gelding. He didn’t want to be bridled, saddled, or ridden. Jessica managed the first two, but was very nearly thrown before the horse gave up and left the corral with ears laid back. As she rode out into the storm, she was grateful that Wolfe had insisted that she learn to ride difficult horses and do the work ofstablehands.

Before Jessica reached the pasture, she saw the first of the wolves. They were sniffing the wind eagerly and moving as though they had a destination in mind. Acting on instinct, she followed. She lost the trail partway into the sparse forest. The wind was less brutal in the trees, but not by much.

Just as Jessica was going to give up and go back to the pasture, she heard the unmistakable sound of a horse screaming in anger and fear. She spun the black gelding around and headed toward the sounds at a dead run, dodging branches and clinging to the saddle horn when the horse lunged through low spots where snow lay in powdery drifts.

At first, Jessica saw only wolves. Then she saw thesteeldust mare trying to struggle to her feet in order to face the circling predators. Jessica brought the shotgun up and fired into the wolves. They scattered away, only to circle back to the mare almost instantly. Jessica fired again and again, reloading rapidly despite the clumsiness of her gloves.

After the third shot, the wolves withdrew, vanishing into swirls of wind-blown snow. Jessica dismounted and went to thesteeldust. The mustang flinched and laid back her ears but was too caught up in the ultimate moments of giving birth to resist the gentle hands helping her.

As soon as the foal was born, Jessica sat down and pulled it into her lap so that the icy ground wouldn’t sap the newborn’s strength. Very quickly, the mustang was back on her feet and nosing curiously at the slick, wet bundle that overflowed Jessica’s lap. A surprisingly long, agile pink tongue appeared and began a vigorous cleaning of the foal. When Jessica’s hand or leg got in the way, it was cleaned too.

Suddenly, the mare’s head went up and her nostrils flared. She shied away, but came back instantly, for the foal was a lure she couldn’t refuse. She nickered urgently to her foal. In response, the foal tried to stand.

With a few strategic pushes from Jessica, the foal managed to come to its feet, but very quickly went sprawling, its stilt-like legs sticking out every which way. As Jessica reached for it, a harsh male voice cut through the storm.

«What the hell do you think you’re doing out here! Southern lady, sometimes you don’t have the sense God gave a goose!»

Before Jessica could say a single word she was snatched off the ground by large hands. Instants later she found herself staring eye to eye with a perfectly furious Caleb Black. There was no sign of the sensual lover, gentle father, or loving husband in him at the moment. He was a dark angel of justice with blazing gold eyes.

«Jessi!»

She smiled tentatively, but found her mouth too dry to speak. Caleb looked frankly intimidating.

«Good grief,» he said, still hardly able to believe his eyes. «Riding Deuce and wearing that fur jacket, I thought you were Willow. Does Wolfe know you’re out in this Hell-wind?»

The appearance of a multitude of slate-gray wraiths just at the edge of visibility saved Jessica from having to answer. Before she could take a breath, she was supported only by Caleb’s left arm and there was a six-gun in his right hand. Shots came too quickly too count, their staccato thunder battering through the savage keening of the wind. Almost a hundred feet away, a wolf went down and stayed. The rest vanished as silently as they had appeared.

Jessica stared eat Caleb, astonished at his speed and accuracy. Veiled by snow, the wolves had appeared with no warning and had left in the same way. Yet if the words Caleb was saying were any indication, he wasn’t much impressed by either his quickness or his skill.

«Damnation.Howcould I miss so many? Must be thirty of those sons of bitches prowling around.»

Caleb didn’t bother putting Jessica down. He simply tossed her onto Deuce, reloaded his gun swiftly, and went to the struggling foal. When he came close, thesteeldust’s ears went back.

«Take it easy, you cross-eyedcayuse. I’m going to help your baby, not eat him.»

The mare’s nostrils flared. Jessica had been infused with the foal’s scent. Enough of it had rubbed off on Caleb to confuse the mare. Stamping her feet, lashing her tail, nickering nervously, she watched while Caleb picked up her foal and draped it over Jessica’s lap.

«Take him to a stall. Thesteeldust won’t like it, but she’ll follow.»

«At least three other mares are missing from the herd,» Jessica said.

With a hissed word under his breath, Caleb pulled on his gloves. «Never rains but it pours. Only a contrary female would have babies in this weather.»

«Leave it to a contrary male to complain about the fruits of last summer’s frolic,» Jessica retorted.

Caleb gave a crack of laughter as he smacked Deuce on his muscular black haunch. «Get going, boy. Sassy little bits like your rider and that foal don’t take long to freeze solid in this wind.»

«I’m not little,» Jessica said as the big gelding headed out.

«You know, Willow’s been saying the same thing to me since I met her. Didn’t believe it then. Don’t believe it now. Watch Deuce. He doesn’t like wind worth a damn.»

«I noticed. I’ll be back for the other foals.»

«No. It’s too dangerous with the wind and the wolves. You stay home. Reno isn’t far behind me. We’ll look for the missing mares.»

«But what about the cattle? You need them more than you need the foals, and most of the horses are Wolfe’s anyway.»

Caleb didn’t answer. Instead, he swung up onto his big horse with a quick motion and trotted off into the savage, waist-high swirls of snow. Beyond him, the herd of horses huddled miserably, their rumps to the icy wind.

With thesteeldust in anxious attendance, Jessica rode quickly to the barn. The mustang didn’t want to go inside, but she did, shying every inch of the way. Jessica put mother and foal in an empty stall, dragged in a bucket of water and an armload of hay, and hauled herself up on Caleb’s tall horse once again.

Deuce didn’t want to leave the barn’s shelter. After a sharp contest of wills with its rider, the big gelding laid back his ears and went out into the teeth of the Hell-wind once more.